How to Raise a Kryptonian
by CyberActors15
Summary: Being an alien themed superhero with a super powered alien watch makes dealing with aliens surprisingly easy. However fighting evil aliens or being diplomatic with different aliens is very different to raising two alien children, especially when they are Kryptonians.
1. Chapter 1: The children from space

Chapter 1: The children from space

**CyberActors15: Greetings mortals and readers alike, my name is CyberActors15 and welcome to my story. Before we begin I just want to give you information about this story. First of all on the Ben 10 spectrum of this story, this story takes place a few years after Ben 10 Omniverse. However there are some things from Omniverse that have been changed for the purpose of this story. You'll understand as you read the story. Now on the Young Justice side of this story, the first thing that you need to know is that this story will be taking a lot of liberties when it comes to what is portrayed from the DC Universe. This story takes inspiration from a lot more than just Young Justice and even then it changes things around… for example, Kal-El wasn't the baby that was sent from the exploding Krypton. Actually it's safe to say that Clark Kent/Superman doesn't exist in this fanfiction at all. With that piece of information you already know that this is going to be a different type of story. Beyond that there isn't much information save for the obvious disclaimer that I don't own either the Ben 10 Series or any of the DC properties. With that said let's get into the story.**

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February 20 2008.

He had to admit, this wasn't Bellwood. It was in the same area as Bellwood but it wasn't anywhere near the town he knew and grew up in. This city was bigger, a lot bigger. Even without aliens living underneath the city, it was a technological marvel, that's probably why they called it the City of Tomorrow.

There were some things he recognised, there were a few Mr Smoothies here, fantastic he knew he wouldn't be able to survive without that particular business chain, but it was a smaller franchise than he was used to. However as if to compensate for Mr Smoothie restaurants, there were quite a few Big Belly Burgers.

There was also a Daily Planet here. It had been a popular newspaper company in Bellwood but seemed even more popular here.

Without a doubt in his mind, he knew that Metropolis was nothing like Bellwood, it had its similarities but it wasn't Bellwood. But it was still an interesting and pretty cool city. Ben had been in this city, in this dimension for approximately a month and without much to do he was just exploring the city and taking in the sites, while S.T.A.R Labs got ready to need him.

The reason Ben was in this dimension and working with S.T.A.R Labs was because of a request from his favourite time traveller, Professor Paradox. Paradox had appeared to Ben, Gwen and Kevin one day requesting their help in another dimension, known as Earth/Dimension 52. Ben, Gwen and Kevin being the heroes they are decided to agree to the request, at which point Professor Paradox split them in two… literally.

Using some time power, Paradox created a time paradox which resulted in the three half alien heroes to form exact duplicates of each of them who would not remember the ordeal at all. Ben had to admit the whole sensation of another Ben Tennyson popping out of him was strange to say the least. When they asked Paradox about why he did that, he explained that it would be a one way trip with no way to return back to their dimension after the mission was completed. Additionally there was no telling how long the mission would end up being.

Upon hearing this, the three became reluctant. Accepting this mission meant they would never be able to see family and friends ever again. They would be alone in an unknown universe with their only consolation being each other. No Plumbers, no Grandpa Max, no Rook, no parents, no friends. They would honestly be starting over in a place that they never knew.

Despite all that they decided to agree, they might have hesitated but in the end if someone needed help, who were they to disagree. They did take a bit of time to call their respective family and friends to say their goodbyes. However knowing that their duplicates would remain in the world they worded their goodbyes to make it sound like they would be going off world for a while. The hardest goodbye, for Ben and Gwen was Grandpa Max but in the end they said goodbye.

With that Paradox led them into the multiverse.

And here was the funny thing. When they arrived in the new dimension they weren't sure what they expected. They could be anywhere and any when, to their surprise they landed in S.T.A.R labs surrounded by scientists and an Alien. Firstly the director of the Laboratory was one Doctor David Par Dox who bore a striking similarity to their own Professor Paradox. As it turned out he was their professor's doppelganger and the otherworldly heroes decided to call him Dr Paradox as a result. There were a few head scientists such as Dr Silas Stone, a man in his early thirties and Dr Maxwell (Max) Tennyson. If that wasn't a shock enough the alien who was there was Verdona. Admittedly both Dr Max and Verdona were slightly younger here than they were in universe the three had come from but there was no mistaking them.

Just like Dr Paradox, Max and Verdona were doppelgangers here who ended up becoming scientists as opposed to their respective occupations in the other universe. Well it's more accurate to say that Dr Paradox and Dr Max were scientists. Verdona was just an explorer who ended up on earth after finding that Boom Tubes were already registered to this planet.

Arriving like they did prompted a very strange conversation. Ben recalled learning that day that S.T.A.R Labs at least the branch in Metropolis was dedicated to the study of space, interdimensional travel, biology both human beyond human, as well as other information. After that they decided to share information about them. Ben and Kevin both decided that it would be best to let Gwen explain and explain she did. It was impressive how Gwen explained everything in a way that it made sense and didn't sound like a fabricated lie.

At the end of the explanation, which included the reveal of their specific powers and abilities, the three were offered places in S.T.A.R Labs which they… Gwen accepted, Ben and Kevin had no choice. Maybe they shouldn't have let Gwen do all the talking.

That didn't matter now. Ben was in another universe and was working with S.T.A.R Labs. Speaking of which…

"Ben, you have gotten a message from the ice sisters."

Ben stopped his stroll and took a look at the Omnitrix. A hologram appeared on the faceplate displaying the AI which had been installed. The AI was a small humanoid shaped hologram that looked like it wore green body armour. Ben called him Omni. Omni was a gift from Azmuth which Ben got alongside the master control when he was 18. That was 6 years ago.

"The ice sisters?" Ben asked. "Let me guess they want to see my aliens again"

"Yes." Omni responded.

Ben chuckled. Shortly after his introduction to the heads of the Metropolis S.T.A.R Labs facility, he had met the pair of sisters that he would come to know as the Ice Sisters, Caitlin Snow and Crystal Frost. They were half-sisters with a mother who appeared to have a thing for men with a cold surname. They were also young geniuses that decided to work at S.T.A.R Labs when they graduated from university. They worked under Dr Max in the Biology division and they had ask Ben about a few days ago if they could see some of his alien forms for their research.

Ben shrugged. Right now he didn't really have anything better to do. So he might as well head on over to Star Labs.

With his decision made the 24 year old other worldly hero ducked into an alley way where he would be out of the line of sight of most people. With a flash of green light his body was replaced with XLR8. As Ben had matured so had the abilities of his aliens, which made sense considering the fact that Ben's aliens were all the relative same age as he was. So a 24 year old Kineceleran, was a lot faster than when he was 10 or 16, so he wouldn't need to worry about anyone seeing him.

With his face plate sliding in front of his face, the speed alien was off towards S.T.A.R Labs.

~00000~

The run wasn't a particularly long one so Ben arrived within a minute of his departure. Once inside the laboratory his body flashed green replacing XLR8 with Ben.

Despite generally arriving like this, everyone was generally surprised but they managed to keep their cool as Ben appeared. However some did send glares at Ben for his abrupt appearance, to which Ben responded with a sheepish smile and an empty for apology.

"Any idea where the ice sisters are?" Ben asked before he was pointed in the direction of the two.

Ben walked to the Lab that the sisters were inhabiting. Surprisingly they were both in one of the underground labs near one of the docking bays. Weird they normally hung out upstairs.

Ben entered the underground lab designated Gen Lab Sub-03, where he spotted the sisters Dr Caitlin Snow and Dr Crystal Frost talking a look at their instruments.

Caitlin was the younger sister, aged 25. She had long brown hair and icy blue eyes. Like every other scientist, doctor and researcher here she wore a white lab coat. Underneath she wore casual winter clothes which consisted of a scarf, a beige long sleeved top and blue pants and black boots.

S.T.A.R Labs wasn't one of those laboratories that enforced strict dress codes, almost everyone wore something casual to the laboratory, even Dr Max often times wore a certain red and orange Hawaiian shirt. Seems some things were similar across all dimensions. This casual dress style could not be more appropriate with Crystal.

She was the older sister, aged 26 and the best way to describe her style was punk. Unlike her sister, Crystal had short black hair with blue highlights. She did have the same icy blue eyes however which were accentuated by the black eyeliner and gothic makeup which she preferred to wear. She also wore a lab coat and underneath she wore a dark blue top, a pair of those stylishly ripped black jeans and black boots.

"Hey ice sisters." Ben greeted only for his response to be a plastic beaker to be thrown at his head, courtesy of Crystal. Luckily Ben was able to dodge the long ranged attack.

"How many times have I told you not to call us that?" Crystal groaned.

"That was cold Frosty. What If I got hurt?" Ben retorted earning a light laugh from Caitlin and a glare from Crystal.

"You have to admit, it was a good pun." Caitlin said only for her sister's glare to shift onto her.

"Whatever you say Caity." Crystal's voice was laced with sarcasm.

"So ladies what's the plan today?" Ben asked as he sat down in one of the chairs.

Caitlin walked over with a tablet and handed it to Ben. The tablet showed Ben's biometric readings alongside information about other humans with a generic health profile.

"I wanted to conduct biometric readings on some of your aliens and compare them to your human body. I also want to see how good our equipment is at scanning and understanding some of your alien DNA alongside comparing it to your human DNA." Caitlin explained. "I also wanted to take a look at a range of some of yours abilities and understand how they affect your body while transformed. I feel like this might give some insight into the study of Meta-humans."

"Which I think is a total waste of time I might add." Crystal spoke.

It was now Caitlin's turn to glare at her sister.

"Don't give me that look. Recorded sightings of Meta-humans have existed for centuries, but there have never been more Meta-humans than a few at a time. Researching into this field is pointless because there is likely little to no chance that they will ever be a large enough part of the population for this research to even be considered relevant." Crystal explained.

"That is an opinion and you are entitled to it." Caitlin responded.

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty, so can we stop the arguing." Ben spoke up.

Miraculously the argument stopped after Ben spoke. That was a first. Maybe Crystal was too tired to deal with Ben's shenanigans today.

"On another note. We should get going soon. I want to be able to complete this analysis today." Caitlin said.

"Going?" Ben asked. "We aren't doing it here?"

"After the Heatblast Incident, Dr Stone has forbid studies of your aliens in the Lab, at least for a while. You two will have to do it off facility." Crystal explained.

Ben visibly shuddered at the mention of the Heatblast Incident.

"Not joining Ice Queen?" Ben asked only to narrowly dodge another beaker. Jeez that woman tosses them as fast as Ben tosses quips.

"It's only the two of us today." Caitlin sad. "She has a hot date."

"Ooh, anyone I know?" Ben asked.

"I hope not." Crystal responded.

"Ronnie Raymond. An engineer at the S.T.A.R Labs in Central City." Caitlin explained before leaning closer and whispering to Ben. "He's a lot like you actually. He makes so many quips that I am surprised that Crystal likes him at all."

A sparkle appeared in Ben's eyes.

"I have to meet this guy."

"Absolutely not!" Crystal stated.

Ben just gave her a mischievous smirk causing the older of the sisters to flip him off. Ben stuck his tongue out in retaliation. He may be 24 years old now, but at his core he was still a kid. Not as immature as he was when he was 10, but still living with an air of immaturity. He didn't have too many responsibilities so living like this didn't seem like a problem.

Despite his immaturity the hero from another world knew when to stop and so he decided to end his provoking of the punk sister. Instead he decided to help Caitlin with the preparations and the loading of items into the car. Once they had completed, they hopped into the car with the intention of heading to their destination.

Caitlin had offered to drive for the purpose that she knew where their destination was. Ben didn't have any qualms with this and soon they were off to one of the remote facilities of S.T.A.R Labs Metropolis, a location were their lives would change forever.

~00000~

In contrast to the relaxing and peaceful life that was being lived by Ben Tennyson and Caitlin Snow, and the others who made earth their home. Life was not peaceful for a scientist and his family.

On a planet across the galaxy, the scientist Zor-El cursed loudly. He was traditionally a man of class who never did such things as swearing, but the impending end of the world seemed to wear down at his honourable persona.

He and his brother, Jor-El had learned about the impeding end some time ago and they brought it to the council of Krypton. The council recognised the coming threat and commissioned the two scientist brothers to lead a group of scientists to find possible solutions to protect their world. Additionally the council reactivated the Brainiac Protocol in order to assist the scientists in their endeavours.

That was the first mistake. There was a reason Brainiac was shutdown long ago, regardless Brainiac was repurposed to finding a way to save the planet. However with the impending death of the planet, the development of Brainiac's systems and artificial intelligence was flawed. To try and perfect it, one of General Zod's scientists sort to merge himself with the faulty AI, combining mind and artificial intelligence, flesh and machine led to this Kryptonian man becoming the new Brainiac. This too was a mistake.

Perhaps it was the rushed development which resulted in faulty technology or the distorted heart of the man, but Brainiac became a greater threat. Zor-El had seen it when Brainiac murdered his brother and his newly wed wife, Lara Lor-Van. Brainiac then as opposed to helping protect the planet, accelerated its destruction and stole the city of Argo before leaving the planet, which was certainly doomed to fall now.

Now Zor-El stood in front of the only plan he had, his wife Alura in-Ze stood beside him trying to composer herself. The rate at which the world was ending they would barely have any time to say goodbye. But they had to do this, so that their son and daughter could have a future. The ship in front of them wasn't big but it had what it required to make the trip safely. Being loaded into the ship were the two Kryptonian children, Kara Zor-El and Kon-El. Both were asleep so that they wouldn't remember the tragedy that would befall their home world.

Zor-El took a deep breath in before he placed his hand on a crystal of clear Kryptonite. He stabbed his finger on the tip causing blood to be drawn and absorbed into the kryptonite. The crystal began to glow before returning to its neutral state. Alura stepped forth and repeated the same process. After she did so she allowed the tears to fall.

It took all of Zor-El's composure to not join her. He wanted nothing more than to wallow in the despair, however he knew what needed to be done. He did however comfort her momentarily. It seemed that action was able to give her the courage to see this through to the end.

She walked alongside her husband to the ship where they both placed their respective crystals into the chambers.

"They will be alone." Alura spoke. "On a strange world with a yellow sun and abilities they don't understand."

"Yes." Zor-El agreed. "But they will be alive. My only hope is that this new world will possess people kind enough to care for our children as if they were their own."

The parents sighed. Their children looked so peaceful as they slept. They wished they could go with them, however they simply did not have enough time to prepare a vessel that could send them alongside their children.

Zor-El and Alura forced themselves to look away. If they stayed any longer they might hesitate and their children's lives would be lost as well. Knowing that their children would live pushed them to start the launch sequence. Within a few minutes the ship had launched and within a few more it was out of the planet's atmosphere, heading towards the wormhole that would warp them across space.

Within the hour the ship had reached the wormhole, just in time as well as the planet exploded. The three year old girl, who should have been asleep stared at the carnage. She didn't know much about what happened but she just knew, she wouldn't ever see her parents again. As her ship entered the worm hole she let tears escape her eyes, while she held onto her brother.

That day the planet Krypton would end, leaving only two infants alive. On that day the element Kryptonite would become irradiated and fall into the same wormhole as remnants of a now dead world.

~00000~

The drive was nice. Just over an hour and a half of driving and chatting brought Ben and Caitlin out of the city limits and to the S.T.A.R Labs Metropolis Research Space. It was one of the many properties that S.T.A.R Labs owned around the city, with this one being known more for its open spacing in nature and being available for testing a lot of things that would not usually be safe indoors. There was a small group of trailers and generators which would make up the indoor and actual laboratory part of this facility, but for the most part it was a clearing with a lake, trees, rocks, some open space and a few trailers.

Upon arriving Ben helped Caitlin with the setting up of her instruments for her analysis. That didn't take particularly long and soon they were able to begin. In order to organise everything, Caitlin requested that he turn into aliens in a certain order, such as elemental aliens, force based aliens, strength based aliens, etc. That way similar data could be complied.

Ben complied and the first category of aliens that Caitlin would analyse would be ice based aliens, which prompted more snow jokes from Ben, not that Caitlin minded, she actually found them amusing.

The first alien Ben turned into was the first ice alien he unlocked Big Chill.

"Ben I wanted to confirm with you. The Omnitrix turns you into the most physically fit of the respective species?" Caitlin asked as she drew blood from Big Chill.

"Yes." Big Chill responded.

"And you are also transformed into the generic form of said alien with minimal deviations from others in your species." Caitlin continued.

"Yes. Basically I am the natural strongest of the species, in this case Necrofriggian." Ben explained.

"One last question. Every transformation will replenish all natural stamina and body mass?"

"Yes, no matter what I transform into I will always be at a hundred percent. The Omnitrix even has a failsafe that will prevent me from carrying over human sicknesses to my alien forms and vice versa."

This was good. It meant Caitlin could take biological samples alongside the various scans for her research, since she could take as many blood samples as she needed.

Next Caitlin asked Ben to demonstrate some of his abilities as Big Chill. She was hoping to form a correlation between the powers and the DNA. She knew that could just ask the AI within Ben's Omnitrix, however half of the fun of a scientific discovery was the experimentation and the research that was put into it. Asking a sentient AI took the mystery out of it. Additionally this was also to see how well earth technology worked with analysing alien DNA.

Ben proceeded to show off his range of abilities as Big Chill all of which Caitlin took note of.

Next Ben turned into Arctiguana and repeated the process of having blood and DNA drawn and showing off his powers.

After that he turned into one of his newer ice aliens, Front Fang. In terms appearance this alien was a lot more ghoulish in appearance. The skin was this pale shade of blue with snow white vampiric hair. To add to the vampiric and ghoulish appearance the alien had a pair of fangs. In the centre of his hollowed chest sat a large crystal where an ice storm seemed to rage within. On top of said crystal was the Omnitrix symbol.

This alien was essentially a heat vampire, as it consumed heat either from living beings to other sources of heat. That absence of heat created ice which Frost Fang could control.

With this alien the process was completed before Ben turned into the other ice aliens he had unlocked over the years, aliens such as Cold Snap, Flizzard and Abominable, just to name a few.

It was nearing mid-afternoon by the time they completed with the all the aliens in the ice category. Caitlin seemed extremely pleased since she now had large amounts of materials to conduct her research.

With data having been collected and some time remaining in the day the two decided to have some lunch in one of the trailers. After their meal they would continue with their investigation.

That was the plan any way, until the meteor struck.

Just as Ben and Caitlin exited the trailer they were surprised to find a meteor shower during the middle of the day.

"Beautiful." Caitlin said as she looked at the shooting stars that shot across the day light sky.

"Definitely not something you see every day." Ben noted.

What happened next was something Ben has seen before, some 14 years ago on a summer vacation with his grandfather and cousin. One of the meteors, mid-flight, turned and headed straight for Ben and Caitlin. Ben wasted no time and with a thought turned into Cannonbolt before grabbing Caitlin and closing himself in.

When the meteor hit Caitlin was saved from the blast radius.

Once the dust settled a flash of green light returned Ben to his human from. After he confirmed that Caitlin was okay, which she obviously was because no one was ever hurt with Cannonbolt protecting them, Ben approached the meteorite. Caitlin decided to do the same.

At the centre of the crater, was not a chunk of space rock instead it was a ship. The ship was sleek in its design, mostly silver in design save for the blue and red thrusters on the back and the Yellow and Red S symbol in front of the cockpit. Speaking of which, the cockpit of the ship, what was inside was surprising. Two toddlers both looking incredibly human, one with blonde hair and the other with a tuft of black hair. The girl looked about three years old whereas the boy looked no older than a few months. The girl held the boy close to her with her eyes clenched shut.

Ben didn't even hesitate, once he saw the children he ran over to the ship. Caitlin however found herself wondering what these two were doing in space, and if they were human children or aliens with a similar likeness to humans.

Upon reaching the ship, the cockpit opened up allowing the fresh air and unfiltered sunlight to rush into the ship. The girl reacted instantly her eyes snapping open. Despite being so young concern and fear were etched onto her face. She reached out and grabbed the closest thing to her while speaking.

Ben couldn't understand what she was saying. But based on her tone of voice she sounded concerned. And it appeared as though she were concerned about the little boy which she held. She was speaking rapidly and the only thing Ben was able to catch was the worn Kon-EL… no that didn't sound right, she must have said Conner. Is Conner a typical alien name probably not but for now Ben resigned to calling the boy Conner.

Ben moved his eyes over to Conner and took note that the boy appeared to be asleep, however looks could be deceiving. The boy also looked pale, just as pale as the girl. Based on their human appearances that could not have been good.

"Uncatalogued DNA acquired." Omni's voice rung out alerting Ben to the fact that his Omnitrix faceplate was Yellow. "Beginning genetic breakdown and transformation."

Before Ben could tell his AI to not initiate the transformation, he began to feel the familiar sensation of his DNA being rearranged.

Now with several years of history wielding the Omnitrix, Ben had gained a bit of muscle mass over the years, but he was nowhere near the apex of masculinity, not until now at least. His muscle mass increased to what could be considered the most naturally physically fit of this species at the age of 24. His brown hair turned jet black but his eyes remained their same shade of green. Just as always his Omnitrix relocated from his wrist with the icon appearing on his chest, however it was bigger than normal. His clothes also went through the subsequent change. Gone was his green jacket and white and black shirt, blue pants and black and green sneakers, instead Ben wore a black and white skin-tight body suit which was highlighted by a green cape, green boots and a green belt.

Additionally as soon as Ben felt the sunlight on his body he felt his body becoming stronger. This was weird. Typically when Ben turned into a new alien the sensation wasn't strange, it was just as if he slipped into some new clothes that were just as comfortable as before. That was a result of his new DNA already being accustomed to the new body, and in this instance it was the same. However the rapid growing of power was weird.

"Ben." Omni's voice called out to him. "Analysis complete. This species draws from solar energy, particular yellow sun energy. In order to cure medical ailments ascend with the children and take in sunlight. Recommended time thirty minutes in direct sunlight in high atmospheric conditions. Additionally, be careful there is a high chance you will get disoriented."

Ben turned to Caitlin who had also heard the message from Omni.

"Go." She said causing the other worldly hero to nod.

The solar energy continued to rush into his system so he grabbed the two children, the girl had fallen asleep just like Conner and looked just as pale as he did. Ben pushed off the ground and ascended straight up until he was in the sky. It was strange, being up here with the sun. This new alien felt like a human but at the same time felt like it was far beyond human.

Before Ben could ponder more his head began to ring as his senses began to kick into overdrive. He could hear four heartbeats, his own which was steadily on the rise as well as the heartbeats of the two children in his hands. There was another heartbeat down below alongside words being muttered. Was that Caitlin?

Ben's head began to ring again, more heartbeats, animals, footsteps, thousands of them. Ben opened his eyes, ants he could see an army of ants walking all over the ground, but he could see them as if they were right next to him. What was that smell? Caitlin's perfume, the trash outside the trailers, the soil. It was all overwhelming.

"Ben focus." Omni called out. He sounded a lot louder than he should. "Blur it all out, treat this like your other aliens."

Ben nodded as he tried to calm his wild senses. After a few extremely deep breaths everything seemed to return to a form of normal. Ben could still hear everything but it was different. It wasn't overbearing, just white noise that he could chose to listen to.

With his senses clear he checked the children who just appeared to be sleeping calmly. They weren't bothered, because they were already used to this? No, his connection to the Omnitrix told him this much. He was reacting like this due to the sunlight, so they should to.

"Omni what's going on?" Ben asked.

"According to the DNA for the species, dubbed Species X until a suitable name is acquired, Species X acts like a battery and charges off of solar radiation, giving Species X a range of abilities. As you are a fully matured member of the species, your solar radiation absorption is faster than that of the children. For example at this age the child is not likely to develop the power of flight or some of the other abilities that you are exhibiting and currently possess." Omni explained.

"Lovely." Ben commented.

Within half an hour Omni told Ben that it was safe to return the children to ground level, which he did without hesitation. Upon landing back on earth he turned back into his human form before walking over to where Caitlin was waiting.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. The babies are okay, they are just asleep." Ben responded.

"That's good." Caitlin said. "I don't think we will be able to continue today, on account of those two."

"Yeah, sorry about that Caitlin." Ben apologised.

"It's alright. The work we were able to do was enough research to get me started." Caitlin said. "We can go home now, however I wanted to ask. What is your plan for those two?"

"For now I will keep them with me." Ben said. "I am pretty sure I am the only one of their species for a while. Until I can figure out where they came from or who their parents are I can handle them."

"I didn't expect you to take in two kids." Caitlin teased.

"Do you know any other human looking aliens that draw power from solar energy?" Ben asked sarcastically earning a slight laugh from Caitlin. "Exactly. At the current moment I am the only one who can take care of them."

"Fair." Caitlin said before turning to look back at the ship. "What about that?"

"I'll leave it here for now. I will find out about it later on. For now I just want to get these kids someplace where I can feed them." Ben said.

Caitlin agreed with that logic. With this being a S.T.A.R Labs facility the ship could easily remain without worry, well as soon as Ben moved it to a place where it would not be seen by passing helicopters or planes.

She agreed to watch the kids as he did just that. As Ben did the dead, she couldn't help but think that their lives had undoubtedly been changed by this event.

* * *

**CyberActors15: Wow that was a long chapter.**

**Robin: Over five thousand words on a first chapter. I have got to say, I am impressed. **

**Gwen: I can't imagine my cousin being mature enough to handle not one but two Kryptonian children.**

**CyberActors15: Come on if anyone can handle to Kryptonian children its, maybe, a guy with the Omnitrix.**

**Robin: If worst comes to worst at least he has Caitlin Snow to help him. Additionally Kevin and Gwen are somewhere in this world as well. **

**CyberActors15: Exactly. Well I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter, I will try my best to get the next chapter out as soon as possible, but that is dependent on interest in this story. Additionally, readers I do just want to remind you, writing this is a hobby for me, something I do in my free time and is born of my love of both series. Now I don't mind criticism and other such story notes, but please don't just demand updates. Writing takes time and once again this is a hobby. However I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you will enjoy future chapters to come, even if it may take me some time to get them out. **

**Robin: So what will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite, Follow and stay Whelmed to find out. **


	2. Chapter 2: Growth of the Family

Chapter 2: Growth of the Family

**CyberActors15: Greetings mortals and viewers alike and welcome back to How to Raise a Kryptonian. Before we can continue with the story we need a brief recap. So last time, after being in this new world for a month Ben Tennyson was called to S.T.A.R Labs where he was asked by the ice sisters Caitlin Snow and Crystal Frost, to do some tests regarding his aliens. It more accurate to say that Ben was called by Caitlin, and he agreed to help. On the other side of the galaxy, Krypton exploded and Kara Zor-El and Kon-El were sent away in a ship. Back on Earth Ben showed off his ice based aliens before the Kryptonian ship landed. Ben got a new alien and decided to take care of Kara and Kon-El, dubbed Conner, for the time being.**

**Gwen: I still can't believe Ben would ever be responsible enough to take care of two kids. **

**Robin: A lot can change when someone grows up. Batman never expected to take me in, and then boom several years later he has four Robins, a Batgirl, an Orphan, a Spoiler and a Signal.**

**CyberActors15: You aren't wrong there. Now onto the story.**

* * *

24 February 2008

It had been just over three days and since Ben had taken in the Kryptonian children and he had to admit, it was certainly interesting. Due to the Omnitrix's universal translator, Ben had come to learn that the girl was named Kara and the boy was named Kon-El, Ben personally preferred to stick with Conner. Additionally he had learnt as well that their species was called Kryptonian. Most importantly he was able to get the two, specifically Kara, to warm up a bit to him so she wasn't quite as sad or nervous as she was before.

Beyond that he didn't know much else as he couldn't rely on the three year old girl to tell him too much info. She didn't seem particularly willing to share anything and Ben decided not to pry.

Instead he tried to keep her and her brother company while learning what he could in different ways. Omni, the Omnitrix AI, had told Ben biological information about the two such as their age, Kara was three and Conner was a few months old. Additionally he also knew they drew power from yellow sun radiation, however their rate of absorbing solar radiation was a lot slower than the rate at which Ben did in his older Kryptonian form. According to Omni, female Kryptonians had a higher absorption rate of solar energy than males.

On top of that information, which Ben learned due to the Omnitrix, Ben also learnt some information from experience, such as, Kryptonians have very strong lungs. Conner being a few month old baby cried, at least a few times and as Ben would find out, his lungs allowed him to cry for a long time. Some of the neighbours in his apartment building complained. What Ben also learned was that despite their lower rate of absorbing solar radiation, they were still super babies none the less. Meaning those two were both strong and durable.

Conner had a tendency to punch things as he cried, which explained the black eye which Ben had and the few holes in the wall next to where Conner slept. Also Kara, who was the stronger of the two and seemed to like heights for some reason, liked to climb and or jump onto the kitchen counter and tables. Now she was on the kitchen counter, and she hadn't taken into account the weaker gravity, therefore instead of climbing on she jumped right through the corner of the counter causing that specific part to break.

Ben just stared at the child who bore that usual sheepish expression that a child typically wears when they know they have done something wrong. It was a breath of fresh air from her usual saddened expression at least.

"Kara we need to do something about your super strength, or you will keep on destroying my apartment." Ben noted.

"Sowwy." She muttered causing Ben to chuckle.

Funny how the Omnitrix translated things so perfectly but when it came to toddler speech, it still sounded like a toddler.

"Don't worry about it. You and Conner are still getting used to your powers." Ben said. "Besides I can fix it."

Ben picked up Kara and placed her on the couch next to her brother, who was sitting sucking his thumb.

Ben walked over to the counter as he scrolled though his watch looking for the right alien. He could just turn into the right alien with a thought, but there was something nostalgic about choosing the alien normally.

Upon finding the alien he needed Ben grinned.

"It's hero time." Ben called before slamming the Omnitrix down.

Kara and Conner watched in fascination as a green light enveloped Ben and his form was replaced with that of a Chronosapien.

"Clockwork!" Ben called out.

Clockwork fired his time beams at the broken counter and reversed time repairing the damage. Within a moment it was almost as if the Kryptonian girl had never jumped up onto the counter. With that sorted Ben changed fixed the wall in the bedroom before returning to his human form.

"Done, and done." Ben said.

"Wow." Kara called out before making her way over to Ben.

Her eyes were on the Omnitrix.

"Pretty cool huh?" Ben asked to get a nod response from the little girl. "This baby allows me to turn into over 300 different aliens."

Kara had stars in her eyes as she inched closer to the Omnitrix. Without skipping a beat she grabbed a hold of the device and pressed the button that that opened up the face plate. Her eyes glowed in excitement before she hit the faceplate down.

"Wait!" Ben called out only for the green flash to surround himself.

Kara giggled as she stared at Ben's new form.

"Honestly kid you shouldn't do things like that." Four Arms commented.

Kara giggled again and slapped the Omnitrix turning Four Arms into Humungousaur… RIP apartment. At least Ben was breaking through the floor and ceiling, but there were certainly a few cracks and broken furniture. Kara giggled again and slapped the Omnitrix turning Humungousaur into Goop.

"Okay I am just going to move away now." Goop said before stretching himself out of reach and turning back to human.

"The Omnitrix isn't a toy Kara." Ben said only for Kara to laugh and try to reach for the Omnitrix again.

This time Ben was prepared and made sure to dodge the young girl's attempts at playing with his watch.

"Omni engage Life form lock, human." Ben called out.

"Understood." Omni responded before the Omnitrix glowed green.

Ben sighed in relief and rested allowing Kara to grab onto his arm and begin playing with the Omnitrix. She was disappointed when she learned she couldn't change Ben's form again, not that that stopped her from trying her best to get him to change forms again.

"Note to self, get toys for the kids as long as they are here." Ben commented dryly.

He looked around the room and his head dropped.

"For real. I am going to have to clean this up again…" Ben whined only for the doorbell to get his attention. "Maybe later."

Ben walked towards the door with the Kryptonian girl still clinging onto his arm, trying to get the Omnitrix to work. Ben knew that with her super strength there would be no getting her off his arm soon, so he just opened the door with her clinging on.

"You really have started taking care of a kid? Not sure whether to laugh or be impressed Tennyson."

Standing outside the door, adorned with some baby/toddler caring items was Kevin, Gwen and Caitlin. It would appear as though Caitlin and Gwen had thought that it would be prepared for the children situation and had brought the necessary things, bottles, rattles, and so on and so forth.

"How about helping me out here Kevin." Ben groaned.

Similarly to Ben, Kevin had grown up quite a bit over the past few years. The 25 year old Osmosian Human Hybrid still had his unruly long black hair alongside that weird x shaped scar on his chin. To this day Ben didn't know how he got that. Just like in his teen years he still wore mostly black and grey. Yeah he still hadn't grown out of his punk phase. What had changed however, was the appearance of what could be described as rivets bolted into his face and arms. They weren't everywhere but they were there, once again Ben wasn't sure how they got there in the first place.

"I think it's actually quite admirable." Gwen spoke. "It's almost as if my cousin is finally growing up."

Gwen had also changed. Her orange hair had returned to its longer length, over the shorter length she had in her late teenage years. She did however retain the glasses aesthetic and kept a pair of blue rimmed glasses. Gwen also retained her preference for blue clothes with a blue shirt and black sweater vest on top. Additionally she wore white pants and casual blue shoes.

Lovely how the aesthetics of the three other worldly heroes hadn't changed since their teenage years.

However Ben did note that there was something majorly different about Gwen's appearance. On her second finger on her left hand, sat an engagement ring.

It took Ben a moment to comprehend what he was seeing.

"You proposed?" Ben asked as he turned to Kevin.

Gwen would have hit her cousin in the arm if not for the fact that he was holding a baby in his arms, so she settled for crossing her arms.

"No 'Hi Gwen,' 'how are you,' 'hope you enjoyed exploring this new universe,' 'congratulations?" Gwen commented. "What happened to proper Greetings?"

"Sorry I was taken back by the fact that Kevin proposed." Ben said. "I always thought it would be you who would propose."

"Shut up Ben." Kevin said. "Yes I proposed, is that so hard to believe… don't answer that. Either way we are here regarding your baby problem."

"Either way, Hey guys. Thanks for coming." Ben said as he allowed everyone to enter.

"So, why's she clinging to your arm?" Kevin Asked.

"More importantly what happened in here?" Caitlin asked as she gestured to the room.

"Oh yeah." Ben muttered. "Gwen can I get some help here. I need you to keep Kara away from the Omnitrix long enough for me to fix this."

"Sure." Gwen agreed, immediately getting a grasp on the situation.

With Gwen's help, Ben was able to remove Kara from his person. Gwen was also effective in holding her attention long enough for Ben to disable life form lock, transform into Clockwork and fix the room before returning to Ben and having Omni put a lock on the Omnitrix that would prevent anyone besides him, Gwen or Kevin from activating the watch.

"Okay with all that done let me introduce you." Ben said. "Gwen, Kevin this little ball of curiosity is Kara and this little guy is Conner. Kara, this is my cousin Gwen and her fiancé Kevin, and you already now Caitlin."

Kara took a moment to register the new names.

"Hi, nice to meet you." She said.

"Uh what did she say?" Kevin asked.

"Oh yeah, you guys left your Universal Translators on our earth." Ben noted. "I forgot about that. She said it's nice to meet you."

With the introductions out of the way and the realisation that Kevin, Gwen and Caitlin had brought the necessary care products for taking care of children, Ben was finally free to ask for his favour.

He asked the three if they could look after the kids for a bit while he went over to investigate the ship which they came from. His plan was that he would be able to find information about their families so that he could take them home. It seemed that Kara wasn't particularly happy about the idea of Ben leaving, as she began crying around Ben mentioning leaving to find anything about her family. At least that was what Ben assumed, at the time there was no way for him to be aware that she was crying over the loss of her family and home.

It took some time to console Kara before Ben left, but he was able to leave eventually, unfortunately Kara had returned to her previous saddened state. And she would remain in that state for a while.

~00000~

It didn't take Ben too long to get to the S.T.A.R Labs Metropolis Research Space, traveling using aliens that could fly came with such advantages.

To Ben's surprise there was actually a few of the S.T.A.R Labs scientists looking at the creator impact as well as the ship, and they were headed by Dr Max and Verdona. The scientists were surprised when Ben arrived but they didn't pay him much mind beyond that. That was typically most of the scientists' reaction to him at S.T.A.R Labs anyway.

"Grandpa… I mean Dr Max. I wasn't expecting you to be here." Ben said, despite being in this world for a month, ben still couldn't help himself but call Dr Max Grandpa Max.

"Morning Ben." Dr Max greeted. "Caitlin told us about what crashed and the children and we thought it would be a good idea to see what we could learn."

"And what have you learned?" Ben asked.

"According to Verdona the ship is Kryptonian in origin, and it's not designed to be a ship, it's an escape pod one designed to escape the destruction of a planet." Dr Max explained. "From what Verdona explained last time she was on Krypton there were periodic earthquakes and mass climate change occurrences happening within days. It wasn't enough to deter the people there but it was enough to show that the planet wasn't healthy. That's all we know for certain though."

A sense of dread settled over Ben. In the back of his mind the voice of Azmuth spoke of the Omnitrix's ability bring back an extinct species in the case of a species wide destruction, but Ben didn't want to think about that.

"Can I take a look at the Escape Pod?" Ben asked.

"Go ahead, you might learn more than us with that Omnitrix." Dr Max responded.

Ben didn't hesitate. He made his way over to the escape pod and began looking for anything that could disprove the possibilities which were swimming in his mind. Upon reaching the pod he began his search and unfortunately it seemed as though his worst fears had been realised.

Ben found the clue which culminated in a case of crystal like objects. These Crystals appeared to be keys which were to be inserted into the computer system in the cockpit, which Ben decided to do.

Ben didn't end up waiting long as holograms projected out of the cockpit, holograms of a man and a woman.

"Greetings my name is Zor-El, of the Planet Krypton and this is my wife, Alura in-Ze. We are the parents of the two Kryptonian children resting within the cockpit of the ship." The man spoke.

Luckily Ben didn't need his universal translator as the escape pod had a built in one which meant everyone else in the surrounding vicinity could hear as well.

"It is more accurate to say that we were the parents of the children." Alura added. "At the time that you are viewing this message, Krypton has certainly been destroyed, and all life has been silenced on the planet."

The sense of dread returned tenfold. Kara and Conner where the last of their kind, the last Kryptonians. However that unsettling thought didn't have time to settle in Ben's mind as the holograms continued talking.

They explained that they were AI cloned from the mind of the real Zor-El and Alura and were programmed with knowledge of Krypton and the history of the people and some of the memories of the parents. However, despite what these AI had they were nowhere near perfect. They were rushed, therefore did not possess the exact or even near cognitions of their original selves, meaning they would never be able to take care of or raise the children, and that brought them to their important question.

"Please, take care of our Son and Daughter?" Zor-El pleaded.

With that the message cut off leaving Ben staring at where the Hologram had previously been. He couldn't move for a moment as he processed what he had learnt and the implications of such information.

"Ben?" It was Dr Max's voice behind him but Ben didn't register it.

"Are you okay son?" Dr Max spoke again.

"Kara and Conner, they… they don't have a home to return to." Ben muttered.

This wasn't something he did often and if asked later he would deny it without a shred of hesitation, but for now, the tears flowed freely from his eyes. Ben cried openly in front of this pod.

In his fourteen years since he first picked up the Omnitrix he had prevented the destruction of many worlds, and even the whole universe on a few occasions. No matter who he faced or the odds that were stacked against him, he would protect every world that he encountered and the denizens of said world would survive. But now, even though he wasn't initially involved with or aware of the planet Krypton, tears fell from his eyes because of what the truth of this meant. Kara and Conner were the last of their kind, and the majority of an entire species was eradicated.

"What should I do?" Ben asked.

"All I can tell you Ben, is that those two children need a new place to call home. With that watch of yours you might be the best suited to take care of them." Dr Max said.

Ben turned towards Dr Max as his fear slowly changed into fear.

"I can't do that… I can't take care of kids. I'm not responsible enough." Ben spoke in panic before looking at the Omnitrix. "Wait the Omnitrix, It has a function that is created to restore life to a planet. I could use that to bring their people back and…"

"Sorry Ben, but that is impossible." Omni's voice immediately rang out. "At least in the way that you are thinking. The Omnitrix does possess the functionality to return a deceased species however the method is not what you believe. The Omnitrix is designed to speed the rate of evolution as well as alter it in order to turn a single celled organism into the dead species. This process would take time however and requires a planet to do so. With the current population of the earth that would be impossible here. Additionally if you elected to go with the second option to create new life from nothing, the new life would still be born in its infant stages and would still need to be cared for. The last option would be reproduction, changing into the alien species and finding another species of similar enough biological makeup and reproducing with that species, once again this would create infants in need of being cared for. The Omnitrix cannot however resurrect the dead or rebuilt their society."

That information seemed to bring Ben further down.

"Listen Ben, no one is ever ready to take care of children, it's a new stage of life that most adults have to go through at some point in their lives." Dr Max explained. "You more than others have quite the extraordinary situation, but that's what makes you perfect to take care of these children. Those children are the last of their race, but you can become one of their race. Ready or not, you are their best bet on this new world."

Despite not having had a Family of his own, Dr Max did speak words of truth. On account of his military service and time as a scientist, this version of Max Tennyson never got the chance to be married and form his own family. But he had spent many a time helping his siblings who had their own children so he had come to understand the ways that families worked and could give accurate advice.

Ben released a sigh as he whipped the tears away from his eyes.

"You're right. Thanks." Ben said before taking a breath in to regain his composure. "Looks like the Tennyson Family will be growing."

* * *

**Robin: Well that was an interesting chapter. Seeing Kara playing around with Ben's Omnitrix was certainly my highlight.**

**Gwen: I'm just surprised that I have been proposed to. I'm still so young in this story.**

**Robin: You're only 24. Some would say that that's not too young to get married. But hey at least you're born at this point in time. At this point in the story, I'm so young that I'm not a thought in my parents mind.**

**CyberActors15: I know the timeline of this story and I could confirm this if I wanted to.**

**Robin: Are you going to?**

**CyberActors15: No. That would give spoilers to our readers.**

**Robin: Yeah, yeah okay.**

**CyberActors15: But yeah speaking of Readers, jeez this chapter took a lot longer than I expected it to. Sorry about that, and if the ending of the chapter feels a bit rushed it's because I just wanted to post this chapter today and I just wanted the end the chapter, so yeah. **

**Gwen: Well at least the rest of the chapter isn't rushed.**

**Robin: That is true. Anyway, what will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite, Follow and stay Whelmed to find out.**


	3. Chapter 3: Responsibilities

Chapter 3: A dad and his responsibilities

**CyberActors15: Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to the next chapter of How to Raise a Kryptonian. Before we continue on we just need a brief recap of the events of the previous chapter. Last time, we came to learn that Kevin had proposed to Gwen, additionally Ben also learned that the planet that Kara and Conner had come from, Krypton, had exploded and they were the last of their kind. With some advice from Dr Max he decided to take them in seeing that he was the only one who could.**

**Robin: Is that all that happened?**

**Gwen: Last chapter was a long one I feel like more happened.**

**CyberActors15: I mean sure Kara got rid of her sadness for a bit and played with Ben's Omnitrix assisted in the destruction of his apartment, but it doesn't feel important enough to mention.**

**Gwen: If it wasn't important why bother putting it in the previous chapter.**

**CyberActors15: …**

**CyberActors15: I don't need you to tell me how to do my job. Onto the chapter.**

* * *

3 March 2008

Photographic memory is a rare gift, one which few humans and few Kryptonians possess, but those who possess this are truly fortunate. Learning and retaining information becomes as simple as breathing. It is especially incredible when learning a new language. The young Kara Zor-El or as she has been renamed, Kara Tennyson, is one of the people with this gift. Additionally like most children she has a very active imagination.

However these gifts also act as a double edge sword. The ability to learn and recall everything is an amazing talent, but it comes with the added turmoil of remembering even the worst of events.

That was what Kara experienced. Since the destruction of her home world. Nightmares would appear to her every so often. But this one was easily the worst.

Typically she watched Krypton's explosion from afar. _But now she found herself on the streets of Krypton. The streets were empty, no people, no AI servants, only cracks of that weird green light. Her father called it some kind of radiation. _

_Kara didn't know what the word meant but she knew it took away her home. _

_Green flames began to grow from the green cracks. They were a little at first but they began to get a lot bigger. The bigger they got the more the city looked destroyed. Fear gripped the young Kara so she ran, trying desperately to find a place where she would be safe. _

_The flames seemed to notice her and chased after her, swallowing more of her home as they grew in size. However Kara was able to escape, just barely. She had escaped into her home, it should be safe here._

_It was worse._

_Kara saw her parents but the green cracks were spreading over their bodies. They looked at her, concern in their eyes._

"_Runaway Kara." Her dad said._

"_Avert your eyes Kara." Her mom added._

_But Kara couldn't look away. She watched as the flames grew and consumed her parents and then the flames grew and surrounded her. There was no escape._

Kara screamed as she awoke. She was back in Ben's apartment, in the bed that had been bought for her. Even with the revelation that she was safe she began to cry, tears streamed down her face as the emotion took over her voice.

The reaction to the crying was instantaneous with Ben entering the room to see if the girl was okay.

"Kara are you okay?" Ben asked.

Kara only continued to cry as Ben called out to her, but through her crying she muttered words about her parents and how they were gone.

Ben had neither much experience with little kids nor much experience with personal trauma like the kind that Kara undoubtedly suffered from seeing her home world be destroyed so on that point there wasn't much he could help with, but he had experienced nightmares enough times to have an idea of how to help.

Kara seemed to like Ben's aliens so he might as well introducer her to another one. With a quick activation of him Omnitrix, Ben's form changed from his usual human appearance to that more reminiscent of a fairy.

"Pesky Dust." Ben called out in his new gender ambiguous form.

The fairy type alien floated over to the crying girl, and sprinkled a magical powder over the girl. Her screams quieted down, her tears stopped flowing, she began to fall back asleep and a small smile graced her face. Her nightmares had been turned back into nice dreams.

With that Ben turned back into human, satisfied with his work. It may not be much but at least it ensured that she wouldn't have any bad dreams tonight.

Ben leaned over to wipe the former tears away from her face but he hesitated. He may be taking care of Kara and Conner but, neither of them were **his** kids. Could he really allow himself to do something intimate like wiping away her tears. An act like that seemed like something reserved for their real parents, their real family, and a role that Ben couldn't possibly fill.

Ben retracted his hand, the tears would dry, and Kara would be properly cleaned tomorrow when it was bath time.

~00000~

5 March 2008

Kara was giggling, actually she was laughing, Conner was also giggling, Caitlin tried to act her age and hold back her laughter but even she couldn't help but let out a few chuckles.

Why? Because of Ben's face.

Ben had come to realise that babies are just like cats. If you put them on a surface instead of a baby chair then they will literally push everything off said surface, and laugh as if they did nothing wrong.

Ben's mistake was thinking 'Hey Conner is an invulnerable super strong baby, putting him in a baby chair will only cause him to break it, so I'll just put him on the counter, it will be fine.' It was not fine.

Conner with the freedom to move all over the counter knocked everything off, including the food Ben was trying to cook. Ben was unsuccessful in hiding his disappointment in himself for not seeing this coming, which resulted in his current comical face. Conner found the face funny and started to giggle, which caught Kara's attention and she started to laugh, which caught Caitlin's attention and she failed to hold it in.

Their humour at Ben's expense lasted a few minutes after which they calmed down naturally.

"Sorry Ben I shouldn't be laughing, but it was such a pure moment, that I couldn't help myself." Caitlin said.

"Yeah I think I'm going to order take out." Ben decided to ignore Caitlin's comment. "You think Pizza's a good fit?"

"For all of us?" Caitlin asked.

"Yeah I don't see why not." Ben noted.

"You can't feed a baby Pizza when he barely has any teeth." Caitlin lectured. "Conner is too young to feed solids to and that includes Pizza. Either way I have this feeling that you can't afford Pizza at this point in time."

Ben was about to retort before he immediately shut his mouth. Admittedly her comment about funding might be truer than he cared to admit. He, Gwen and Kevin had been receiving an allowance from S.T.A.R Labs, which could allow them to live sustainably by themselves for a month. It wasn't a proper salary as they weren't employees but their assisting in science projects did earn them a bit of cash. With the sudden change to Ben's life, his funds had run dry pretty quickly.

"Okay you might be right about that." Ben admitted. "But what do I do about feeding these little aliens?"

"I'll help you with that today." Caitlin said. "But it doesn't change the fact that you need to do something about your financial situation."

"I'll ask S.T.A.R Labs if they can increase the money… that's a bad idea isn't it?" Ben spoke.

"You need to get yourself a Job." Caitlin spoke again. "S.T.A.R Labs won't be able to pay your expenses for you forever."

"This is true." Ben noted. "But how do I get a job when I have no high school qualifications, no university degree or diploma, or anything that really shows that I exist in this universe?"

Caitlin handed Ben a flyer. No one could claim that she wasn't prepared, as Ben had come to realise that Caitlin Snow, is always prepared.

"It's not the best job out there, but this is a good start. Best thing about it is that it won't ask questions about background. Additionally, you already love them so why not work for them?" Caitlin said.

~000000~

10 March 2008

"Hello and Welcome to Mr Smoothy. My name is Ben Tennyson and I will take your order today." Ben said.

On the 6th, as per Caitlin's suggestion, Ben applied to work at Mr Smoothy and unsurprisingly he was accepted almost instantly. Admittedly the recommendation letter from a certain bio-engineer/bio-chemist/biologist from S.T.A.R Labs did help secure his job. The 8th was training for Ben to ensure that he fit into the chain of business without causing disruptions and today was officially his first day working, as he was asked to start working on Monday, which was today. Ben being a frequenter of Mr Smoothy, since his teen years, and since he arrived in this Universe, immediately knew the level of charisma which was expected from the employees to sell the smoothies. Additionally his experience making smoothies when Mr Smoothy was temporarily closed (long story short, back on his home world a rogue To'kustar stepped on the only Mr Smoothy) led him to immediately be given a pretty good job within the Smoothy bar.

Just as Caitlin said the pay was enough that it would be able to keep a family of three alive which was essentially what Ben needed for the time being. Add the allowance from S.T.A.R Labs and the Tennyson Trio should be able to survive comfortably for the time being.

Speaking of which, on account of Ben needing to watch over Kara and Conner and needing to work at his job, he used the Omnitrix to allow himself to be in two places. Thanks to Echo-Echo and an Omnitrix failsafe, added by Azmuth, Ben was able to make a clone of himself that wouldn't have a deviant personality. So while he worked he could also take care of the kids. He was basically a stay at home guardian who also worked a 10 to 6 hour job.

Speaking of which his duplicate was currently getting Kara and Conner registered as Tennyson's who were living with him. Getting official birth certificates and so on and so forth. They were being registered as Ben's adopted children with deceased parents who had asked Ben to take care of their children. It was weird to think about but with that registration, Ben would be known as a single father of two. Of all the titles that Ben expected to have, that was still and would continue to be the most surprising. Either way that wasn't important now.

What was important was Ben doing his job.

"May I have your name please?" Ben asked the customer in front of him.

"Bruce. Bruce Wayne." The customer responded.

The customer was this black haired blue eyed guy who was around Ben's age, maybe a year younger, around 23 years old.

"Bruce, huh? Pleased to meet you." Ben said.

There weren't much people in Mr Smoothy right now so Ben had the time to start a conversation.

"So you look like you've just come back from an epic adventure. Anyplace interesting?" Ben spoke.

True to his word Bruce looked like he had just come back from a trip to a place that was definitely out of the city. He wore this rugged adventure look that had an almost Middle Eastern vibe to it. Additionally the backpack on his back, looked like one which was intended for travel. Plus he pulled out a few different notes different from the US notes, before he paid, all signs of an intrepid traveller.

Bruce let out a low chuckle, but Ben could tell that it was more for appearance sakes, as if he had lost the ability to genuinely smile long ago but didn't want people to feel sorry for him. Ben always was pretty good at reading people, so he was certain that this Bruce Wayne was angry about something.

"That obvious?" Bruce asked. "I have done some traveling. I thought it would be nice to leave Gotham City for a bit, and see the world. I've been to Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, China, South Korea, Egypt, Vietnam, Thailand, Afghanistan and Nanda Parbat just to name a few."

"Wow must have been a hell of a trip." Ben commented. "When'd you leave?"

"10 years ago." Bruce mentioned casually before he noticed Ben's expression. "I had a whole bunch of tutors in every country so I kept up with my studies. But now I'm back and ready to see my home again."

"Dang dude…" Ben commented, sure he had gone to space on multiple occasions but admittedly his exploration of the rest of his world was laughable at best. "So what are you going to do now that you are back?"

"I guess, head back to my family company." Bruce said with a shrug. "I am supposed to be its CEO after all."

"Well good luck with that." Ben said as he handed Bruce his smoothie. It was blackberry flavoured. "And Welcome back to America."

"Thanks." Bruce said before hesitating. "Thanks for the chat. Also nice watch."

"Thanks it's a one of a kind." Ben said.

With that Bruce walked away towards the limo that was waiting for him, likely to take him back to Gotham City. He seemed like a cool guy, if not a little distant. He did answer Ben's questions but, Ben felt that he was still acting somewhat distant. That was fine, the guy was going to Gotham anyway and this would probably be the last time Ben ever spoke to or interacted with the guy.

Ben didn't realise at the time, but that train of thought couldn't be farther from the truth.

The rest of the day that Ben worked was pretty normal, he had a few customers at different times of the day and there was obviously the rush hour traffic which brought in a lot more people. While he was at work he even met another rich guy around his age, Lex Luthor, and young reporter, Lois Lane. Funny how many interesting people went past a small little Mr Smoothy, especially taking into account that Mr Smoothy wasn't as big a brand as it was on Ben's Earth.

~00000~

March 13 2008

Ben groaned as he read the letter that had been given to him by his neighbours.

"What's wrong son?" Dr Max asked.

Ben was currently back in S.T.A.R Labs, Caitlin had called him in simply because she wanted to show off her findings from when she took blood samples and scans from his ice aliens. Verdona and Dr Max were present as well as they were looking to see the fruits of Caitlin's research as well as assist in any way they could.

Ben had taken the letters that had been delivered to him so that he could read them and reading them all confirmed one thing.

"People can be such snobs." Ben groaned. "Why do they hate children so much?"

The letters were all complaints about the sudden increase in noise on account of having two children living in Ben's apartment. Conner being a baby meant that he was likely to cry a lot, and with those lungs of his he could cry for hours without end. Kara, although not as likely to cry as her younger brother, since she could just say what she wanted and could get attention with words, also cried whenever she had nightmares. Beyond that the two children were just obviously loud, as children where when they played.

Obviously the noise had started to get to Ben's neighbours, quite a few of which were around his age (university students) and didn't realise that raising children would be a loud endeavour. Some of the neighbours were older, but they were the type of older who were either newly wedded or those people who didn't want kids in their life, they had similar complaints. There were a few who didn't mind but there was a greater majority who did not like loud children in their apartment building.

That wasn't the only problem with the apartment in relation to Kara and Conner being there. As Ben had come to learn, both of the two were high energy balls, which meant they liked playing. It was natural, they were children after all. But his apartment did not have enough space for children to be children and run around and play. There was also the problem of the two breaking a lot of stuff, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't too bad considering Ben could go Clockwork and reverse time on the damage done.

"Probably a good idea to move out of your apartment" The elder ice sister, Crystal Frost, said as she walked past Ben.

"Oh yeah sure because it's that easy." Ben retorted dryly. "I'll just walk on over and buy a house with my meagre salary."

"I'm sure the great hero from another world could manage to find a way." Crystal taunted. "You could sell those diamonds that you create as Diamond Head. Instant Millionaire."

"Yeah I could do that, and I could destabilise the economy in the process." Ben commented.

"What economy? You are the only person capable of producing those types of crystals. You would quite literally be the economy." Crystal noted. "I'm sure any of your other aliens could help you get millions in no time."

"You're not wrong about that." Ben commented. "But I would prefer not to use my powers like that. Fun things and protecting people, sure, but to make an easy million? No thanks."

"Well if you want to be so noble, you could always ask Caity to help you." Crystal teased. "I'm sure my baby sister would accept any reason to help you and your babies out."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Caitlin spoke up from her station.

Crystal gave a sly smirk.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She said. "I mean you and Ben spend so much time together, and it seems you're always helping him out. Sometimes I wonder why that is."

Before the conversation could advance any further, the three twenty-somethings were interrupted by Verdona and Dr Max. It's more accurate to say that Verdona stopped the discussion. No matter what universe, the Anodite woman could stop bickering anywhere she was present.

With the three being brought back to being silent, they proceeded with the important work, which included Caitlin explaining her findings and the discussions regarding the different Alien DNA and how there were similarities to human DNA. During that discussion Ben and Omni explained additional information about the respective ice aliens.

After the discussion about genetics and genomes, Ben was stalled from leaving by Verdona and Dr Max.

"It seems you have quite the predicament young man." Verdona spoke. "We have an idea of how to help you."

"I may not have had the chance to raise children of my own, but I understand your struggles Ben." Dr Max explained. "That's why I would like to offer you something to help with your needs."

Dr Max went onto explain that in his days as an Army Scientist he was given a safe house of sorts in metropolis, one that could act as a regular unassuming house but also doubled as a secure bunker, one which had almost become more secure with the addition of technology from Verdona's ship when she crash landed on the planet some time ago. Making Dr Max's safe house high tech was the least she could do after she accidentally opened a boom tube and crashed a ship right into the house.

Dr Max admitted to never using the house, much, it was a gift that he could potentially use for retirement or something along those lines but Dr Max actually preferred a mobile home or a beach house or a country side house as opposed to the alien enhanced house in Metropolis.

Dr Max explained that it wasn't in the CBD of Metropolis like Ben's current apartment, but in a more suburban area. It was close to a few schools, should Ben decided to put the Kryptonian children in a school, as well as had plenty of space for children to play. It was connected to the more nature orientated part of the city so there were more trees and mini forests around the house, so privacy was a bit higher there.

It was surprisingly perfect. Ben didn't hesitate to accept. Hey if the offer was available and for free, then Ben would be a fool to turn it down. There was only one condition, although it wasn't used to often, Dr Max and Verdona would come by and stay there every once in a while and even host events there, as it was close to one of the S.T.A.R Labs facilities, and they wanted to be able to keep their ability to do that. Beyond that the house was Ben's to do as he saw fit, something which Ben eagerly accepted.

~00000~

March 15 2008

Ben's jaw dropped. Dr Max told him that it was big, but this was bigger than he expected. The house was a three story house, not a mansion or a manor or anything like that but still big in the grand scheme of things. Definitely bigger than the pay check he was currently getting would allow him to afford.

"I don't know what Dr Max did to get this, but I'm thinking of enlisting in the army, so that I can get something like this." Kevin commented as he also gawked at the building.

"Same here." Ben commented.

"But this house is already yours." Gwen added.

"I mean, you're not wrong."

Today was moving day and Gwen and Kevin were helping Ben, Conner and Kara with moving in and setting up. Admittedly it wasn't like the trio had too much stuff to move but still the sentiment was nice. However the trio weren't expecting the house they saw. Quite frankly it was everything Dr Max said and more.

"Shall we get to work boys?" Gwen asked as she rolled up her sleeves.

"No time like the present." Ben responded as he mimicked his cousin's actions.

They had all arrived early in the day for the sole purpose of working on the vacant house. It may be barely used but that meant it was barely decorated. The three adults would spend most of the day working on fixing up this home to be liveable for Ben and his two kids. Luckily, they had the advantage of powers and an alien watch to help them out.

Gwen's magic and Mana manipulation worked wonders to bring the small amount of furniture into the house. Kevin's days of engineering and Ben's smart aliens worked wonders for figuring out and improving the alien technology in the house. At the same time they alternated shifts in terms of watching and taking care of the kids, which consisted of playing with them and or teaching Kara English.

By the end of the day the house was cleaned up and the furniture had been brought in, even though there wasn't nearly enough to fill the house. To celebrate the three adults and Kara enjoyed pizza and ice cream, Conner, being unable to eat solids, just happily ate pizza flavoured baby food.

Kevin and Gwen eventually left. They would have stayed over, if there had been enough adult sized beds but there weren't so they left, with the promise that they would come back and see how the little family was checking in.

At the end Ben was satisfied. Kara and Conner were both asleep, in their own rooms, both of which were being monitored by the resident AI, Omni, whom Ben and Kevin and connected to the house's electrical and digital network, and he had had a good meal after spending the day with his cousin and best friend.

It would have been the perfect end to the day, however, it wasn't. The day didn't end for Ben until much later that evening when he learnt of Kara's crying.

It would appear as though she were having another nightmare. And it was keeping her up and causing her untold levels of fear.

Ben immediately came by to comfort the poor girl but through her tears she couldn't find much comfort. Ben considered using Pesky Dust again, the dream controlling alien could make this situation several times better but he decided against it.

The reason being, Kara was crying about being alone. She was afraid of being alone and Ben feared that leaving her with good dreams wouldn't change that, so he decided on a different plan.

Waking up the crying girl, Ben consoled her over a bowl of ice cream and he talked with her and listened to what she had to say. Kara didn't want to talk about what made her sad so instead she spoke about Krypton before the explosion. Ben accepted and listened whole heartedly to the tales of the alien world from the three year old girl.

After their late night chat, Kara was able to calm down considerably however she still retained a miserable air about her.

"Can sleep with you?" Kara asked trying to use the English which she was learning. "No want be alone."

Ben hesitated. The last thing he wanted was to do anything wrong and typically sharing a bed with a child that wasn't yours or related by blood was something many would consider wrong. But Ben rid himself of those thoughts when he looked at the terrified girl. Regardless of whether it was right or wrong, Kara needed emotional comfort. And even though he wasn't her real dad, he had agreed to take care of her and Conner. He had adopted the two, and he went through a lot of effort recently to ensure that they had a good place to be. Their biological dad, he may not be, but a dad he was, as weird as it was to admit.

"Sure." Ben said.

A smile graced Kara's features. Her fear of being alone would be halted for tonight.

"Thanks Papa." She said with a tired yawn as she switched between Kryptonian and English.

Ben never thought that he would hear those words and quite frankly hearing them made him smile.

* * *

**Robin: I am trying to comprehend what just happened.**

**Gwen: I am not going to lie, this chapter made me happy.**

**Robin: Those were some cute family moments. But to me the biggest surprise was Ben running into Young Batman.**

**CyberActors15: Not even. The Bruce Wayne that you saw in this chapter is Pre Zero Year, when he first gets back from traveling around the world. He isn't Batman Yet. And as for the Family moments, it took some time but I think I did a good job with them.**

**Gwen: I feel inclined to agree, but since you are writing my character in the story, I am biased towards your thoughts.**

**Robin: So what will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite, Follow and Stay Whelmed to find out.**


	4. Chapter 4: Birth of a Hero

Chapter 4: Birth of a Hero

**CyberActors15: Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to How to Raise a Kryptonian. Before we get into the chapter, let's have a brief recap of what happened last chapter. Last time Ben found himself having to make changes to his life in order to accommodate to having two kids to take care of. Ben got a job at Mister Smoothy, where he met Bruce Wayne briefly. Ben also got a new house to stay in courtesy of Dr Max and Verdona. Lastly, Ben was able to help Kara, if a bit with her nightmares, and she called him Dad for the first time.**

**Robin: The chapter was so long that you would expect the recap to be a bit longer. But I guess those are all the important things that did occur in the chapter.**

**Gwen: Regardless of the length of the recap in relation to the chapter, I am still surprised at the content of the chapter. That's got me curious for what's ahead.**

**CyberActors15: Oh I got the things planned for this chapter. Speaking of which lets get into it.**

* * *

April 19 2008

It was all over the news, Lionel Luthor, Billionaire and CEO of Luthor Corp, would be hosting the event of the year. This event served multiple purposes, one being a large charity benefit, the other being a chance for companies and businesses which were allied with Luther Corp to show off recent advances as well as try to improve or gain new relations with Lionel Luthor. Additionally this event was meant to showcase advancements for Luthor Corp to show off their own advancements.

At least that is what the public knew. There was no denying the rumours of shady deals, and questionable working conditions, and other such rumours about Lionel Luthor and his business. There was this general idea that this event was created to disprove all those rumours. Those in the underground new better.

This was certainly a ploy to make Luthor Corp look good. But it was also another Shady deal happening in broad daylight. This information was limited to a few. Two of Lionel Luthor's shady contacts would be in town attending his benefit, one the immortal Vandal Savage and the other immortal Ra's al Ghul, and those two targets, specifically Vandal Savage is why the mercenary group gathered today.

The leader of the group, a man named Julius Savage, named after his father's earlier persona, Julius Cesare. Unlike many of his other siblings, Julius was not here with the purpose of assisting his father or helping document his legacy or anything else of the sort. He was here for one reason and that was to ruin his father's fun.

He knew better than most that there was absolutely no way to Kill his father, but killing everyone inside the Luthor benefit that could possibly be an aid to him would at least be enough to be a bother to his father. If anything he would at least be able to kill one of his siblings that were always around his father, and bonus points for being able to get rid of the Demon's head.

Now he had no personal anger against Lionel Luthor or any of his guests, but even if they didn't all know it, they were or could be pawns in his father's game so they were all slated for execution. After he robbed them blind, of course.

His eyes glowed dangerously at the thought of ruining his father's plans. He had better not get too excited however as his forearms were similarly glowing. Yes, he was one of the rare siblings who had inherited and activated the meta-gene, making him a Meta-human. When his father learnt of his powers, Julius's life became nothing short of constant training to be a perfect weapon for his father's arsenal. Julius got sick of it and left and started planning ways to continuously screw over his father's plans.

The latest plan obviously involved, his army of mercenaries, some high tech alien weaponry which he stole from his father and a building full of Lionel Luthor guests.

"Gentlemen, we ready for tonight?" Julius called out.

"Yeah Boss," was the reply he was met with causing him to grin.

"Good. Remember, when we go out there, our objective is to take what we can and blow the place sky high. Also no real names, only code names in the field. So I want you to let me know, are we going to have a good night tonight?"

"Yeah Boss."

Julius's grin on spread as he grabbed his signature equipment, his siege mask. When he put it on he was no longer Julius Savage, he went by the code name Siege.

~00000~

"Daddy, what are you doing?" Kara asked.

It had been a month since Ben, Kara and Conner had moved into their new house, in which there had been a few changes to their lifestyle. Kara's English had improved incredibly in the time and she was almost fluent in the language, as fluent as a super intelligent three year old could be with English as their second language. Additionally Kara had come to accept Ben as her new caretaker and had thus started calling him dad, which obviously made Gwen, Aunt Gwen. Additionally Kara had grown into accepting calling Conner, Conner as opposed to Kon, however it was a name she still continued to call him every once in a while. Ben had as well come to accept his role as an adoptive father. It was still weird as this was still new territory for him but he was adjusting well enough. Conner was still just a baby who couldn't speak any more than incoherent baby speech but he was capable of responding to his name and he understood the difference between yes and no so that was progress.

"Just putting the finishing touches." Ben commented as he stepped away from the nearly completed car.

One of the other changes in Ben's life was his promotion in Mr Smoothy. Although it was never supposed to be a job that he would eternally commit to, Ben did prove to be more than skilled enough to quickly advance up the chain of command in the small smoothie bar, and within no time he was crowned as Manager. And as a result he got an increased pay check. Using some of that pay check he got himself two old cars… and a military tank, don't ask. And using those vehicles, some left over alien tech that Verdona left in the house and a lovely bunch of aliens called Juryrigg, Upgrade, Diamond Head, Grey Matter and Brainstorm, Ben crafted a brand new car, one comparable to his original DX Mark 10. Now it just needed a few finishing touches.

Ben lifted his hand and slapped on the Omnitrix turning himself into XLR8. Kara squealed in delight as she always loved Ben's alien transformations. With his super speed, he grabbed the car paint cans and applied the paint job before turning into Heatblast and sending the flames over the car.

Once the process was done, the car stood completed with a shiny new paintjob with colours of black and green. Impressed with his handy work Ben let the Omnitrix beep before he was replaced with his original form in a flash of red light… wait red light? It had been a while since that had happened.

As if detecting Ben's thoughts, which was likely what happened considering Ben could change aliens with a thought, Omni answered.

"Ben, please try to limit use of the Omnitrix today as I am currently installing a software update and using the Omnitrix will only delay that process and cause your transformations to time out." Omni said from within the Omnitrix.

"Updates?" Ben asked. "You get software updates."

"Yes, even though the Omnitrix does not require the connection to Primus to function. It is still connected to the network and still receives updates." Omni explained.

"Huh neat." Ben noted before he admired his handy work with his new car. It was a sleek four (five if you counted the middle seat in the back) seater sports car which was mostly white in colour but it was highlighted with Green accents, almost like an inverse to his original DX Mark 10. It even had Omnitrix hubcaps. The inside on the other hand, had a preference for black and green with the seats mostly being black with green accents.

The car was designed to go fast when it needed to and really fast when it wanted to. It was also AI compatible to Omni was able to link with the Car's internal computer. Ben had also installed an under glow for when he really wants to show off. Most would say that sports cars were not suitable for family cars, Ben didn't know why that was but he wasn't worried. This car was designed with max level protection and an incredibly hard shell that could take a few hits from Fourarms. Additionally the inside was so incredibly softly cushioned that no one inside would be able to feel any pain from a crash. Not that he was worried considering that Kara and Conner were incredibly durable.

After admiring his work he turned back to Kara who was watching him with curiosity.

"Looks like I should avoid changing for the day. That's fine I suppose. So want to go for a ride in my new car?"

"Yes." Kara said gleefully. It appeared as though the idea of driving around town really appealed to her.

With her approval Ben quickly placed Kara and Conner into their respective car seats before hopping into his own seat behind the wheel. With the roaring of an engine Ben drove out of the garage and out into the City of Metropolis.

~00000~

First stop on the car ride was S.T.A.R Labs. Ben figured he might as well see what Caitlin and Crystal were doing, alongside introduce the two Kryptonians to the famed laboratory.

Once he arrived he was surprised to find that S.T.A.R Labs was mostly empty and that was a surprise in of itself. However Ben didn't have to worry for too long as he encountered the director of the Laboratory, Dr Paradox, talking with some of the research assistants.

Ben approached at Dr Paradox finished his discussion.

"Greetings Ben." Dr Paradox said upon noticing Ben, Kara and Conner "And hello there, you must be Kara, and this little one must be Conner."

"Hello." Kara said with enthusiasm.

"Hi Doc. Where is everyone?" Ben asked.

"Everyone who isn't attending Lionel Luthor's Benefit today has the day off, and those who are attending, are getting ready for the event or are already setting up." Dr Paradox explained.

"Who's?" Ben asked.

"Lionel Luthor, is the Billionaire CEO of Luthor Corp and he is a powerful man with a lot of influence in the scientific community. Even his son Lex, is a large pioneer in the scientific field." Dr Paradox explained.

"So naturally scientists from S.T.A.R Labs will be at the benefit?" Ben summarised.

"Precisely." Dr Paradox responded. "Alongside Wayne Enterprises and Queen Consolidated, Luthor Corp is a financial backer of all the S.T.A.R Labs in the different cities, even though those companies have their own scientific divisions. Their help is fundamental to our research so we always make it a habit to attend their events."

"Makes sense." Ben commented. "Well I just wanted to introduce these two to S.T.A.R Labs and maybe see if I could hang out with Caitlin and Crystal."

"Unfortunately they will be attending Mr Luthor's benefit. Perhaps another time." Dr Paradox said.

"That's a shame." Ben sighed. "Oh well maybe next time. See you later Dr Paradox."

"Bye." Kara added.

"Goodbye you three. I hope to see you again soon." Dr Paradox said.

With that Ben, Kara and Conner left. It was fine though, there was still a lot they could do in their drive through of the city.

~00000~

"Lane, get in here. I've got job for you!" Perry White.

"Got it chief."

The Daily Planet was a whir of activity as usual. Reporters, journalists and photographers were moving around with their stories that needed to be printed for next day's paper. Despite the hustle and bustle, there was a relaxed air in the building, one that spoke volumes of people inside and their commitment to their craft.

There was one however who was not relaxed. She was frustrated. She was Lois Lane, the most ambitious reporter in the whole Newspaper Company. She had raven black hair lilac eyes and a personal preference for the colour of purple in her clothing.

The reason for her frustration was because she was never given any of the interesting stories to write on. Admittedly she was pretty young, 23, and had only been working in the Daily Planet for just under a year due to her joining right after college, but regardless of that fact, she had plenty of accomplishments under her belt and knew that she could tackle the real stories not puff piece editorials. But she didn't really have a choice in the matter. Perry White would be giving her a job to handle, but every time he gave her a job, she was always given something boring.

"What can I do for you Mr White?" Lois asked as she entered the office. To her surprise Perry wasn't alone, in the room was some teenager, around 15 or so, with red hair green eyes and freckles. Based on the fact there was a camera around his neck. She assumed he was a photographer but based on the fact that he was a teenager was a bit odd.

"Lane, James Olsen. Olsen, Lois Lane." Perry introduced. "With that out of the way I want you two to cover Luthor's benefit tonight."

"Lionel Luthor's Benefit? Come on Chief, that's not news, it's barely worth must attention." Lois complained. "Why are you sticking me on this job with this kid? Is this punishment for the monster of Metropolis thing?"

Over the past two months there had been a rumour of some monster or monsters skulking around and defeating criminals before disappearing in a green flash. Lois decided to investigate these supposed hero monster claims but her investigation turned up no leads and no evidence that such a creature even existed. Worst part is that she spent a whole two weeks looking into this urban myth when she should have been working on her sports coverage of the football league that was going on at the time.

It's safe to say that Perry wasn't happy that Lois went on a wild goose chase with nothing to show for it.

"Wow Miss Lane really is a snappy as they say." James commented.

"Tell me about it." Perry agreed with a grown before he turned back to Lois. "No this isn't punishment. Regardless of what you may think, Lionel Luthor's benefit is news worthy and is likely to have an effect on the city as a whole depending on what gets unveiled tonight. And I want good hands on deck to capture everything that's important. That's where you and Olsen come in. The kid is a genius photographer and you are an excellent journalist so you two together will be a dream team for this company."

"But…" Lois began only to be cut off.

"No buts Lois. This is your job for today." Perry said as he dismissed the two.

Lois grumbled to herself as she walked out of Perry's office, with James following behind.

"It will be a pleasure to work with you Miss Lane." He said.

Lois stopped and took a breath in. No need to be rude to a kid… even if she had been slightly rude to him earlier.

"Don't call me Miss Lane, James. It makes me feel old" Lois said. "Also I am sorry for my earlier comment."

"No need to worry Miss… uh Lois." James said. "Also you can just call me Jimmy. I'm not a big fan of the name James."

"That's a shame. The name James is quite nice." Lois noted.

"Yeah but sounds like a name better suited for an older more mature African American man than someone of my quirky personality." Jimmy said.

Lois shrugged, she couldn't deny that logic.

"Well either way chief said you were good, so let's see how you do tonight Jimmy. Don't slow me down." Lois said.

"Of course Lois." Jimmy said with a salute one which caused Lois to groan. If she wanted to be treated like a superior officer she would have enlisted for the Army like her father suggested.

~00000~

In another part of Metropolis another young member of the news world was exiting her boss's office, only difference was that she was reporter as opposed to a journalist. She was Cat Grant, a blond haired brown eyed young reporter with dreams and ambitions of her own and similarly to one Lois Lane she had just exited her Boss's office.

Cat had been tasked with the role of reporting live at the Lionel Luthor Benefit, something she was eager to accept. This was a big event which would be hosted by the richest man in all of Metropolis. Reporting on it live meant that she had a free ticket into this event as well as a chance to enjoy the party when she wasn't working. This would be an interesting day for her.

~00000~

"Why am I here?" Bruce Wayne asked himself as he glared outside the window into the streets of Metropolis.

"Because you were invited Master Bruce." Alfred responded from the driver's seat.

"That doesn't tell me why I should bother." The 23 year old billionaire groaned.

"You've been gone a long time Master Bruce, and you are now the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Making appearances to events like these is good for your social image. Mr Fox seems to think that it is also good for you as a person. Who knows sir, you might even make a new friend." Alfred spoke causing Bruce to send his glare towards his butler before staring back outside.

"I don't need friends Alfred. I haven't needed any new friends for the past 13 year" Bruce said. "I've already got you to fill that role."

"As honoured as I am to hold that position Master Bruce. I hardly doubt an old man like me is a good replacement for a friend your age." Alfred said.

"Having friends won't help me fix Gotham." Bruce commented.

"Fix Gotham sir? You went away for 10 years with the intention of figuring out how to do that, now you've been back in Gotham for a month and you still haven't figured out how to fix it." Alfred spoke. "Although it is a noble mission, I do feel the need to stress the importance of a social life. Having friends will certainly help you fix Gotham. Additionally having friends will help you grow as a person and enjoy life."

"There is no enjoyment to be had in life Alfred, not for me at least. Only the next step towards ensuring that others can have a save and enjoyable life." Bruce stated.

Alfred was quiet before he chuckled.

"As noble a statement as that was Master Bruce, I am sorry to say that you still sound like a teenager who is passing through the gothic phase of their life." Alfred said.

"Whatever." Bruce said irritably causing Alfred to smile. His smile was sad but genuine.

Despite the responsibilities that the young master had taken unto himself, he was still that a young master who had yet to outgrow his emo phase. Alfred obviously knew why, as he was still mourning the death of his parents, and he hoped events like this one which Lionel Luthor was hosting would lead to Bruce growing out of the phase and being able to find some new happiness.

~00000~

Similarly to Bruce Wayne there was another young man who wasn't looking forward to the event that his father would be throwing, and that was the 28 year old heir to Luthor Corp Lex Luthor.

"Checkmate."

Lex was shaken from his thoughts as he stared at the smug look of his younger (by 11 years) sister Lena.

"You seem distracted Lex. You don't usually make such careless mistakes." Lena said.

Lex took a moment to stare at the board. True to his sister's words he was indeed making careless mistakes. Likely due to the distracted place in which his head occupied.

"You aren't wrong." Lex commented.

"Let me guess. You aren't at all excited for tonight's festivities." Lena asked.

"Yes. Lionel Luthor's big first step to making Metropolis into the City of Tomorrow." Lex rolled his eyes. "It's annoying to say the least."

"I can understand your disappointment." Lena said. "You and I both know that this is just some ploy to get rid of bad press and rumours."

"You aren't wrong already. Honestly I just wish the old man would just up and die already. If he could then I could take over the company and do something good with it." Lex said.

"You sound so venomous Lex." Lena noted.

"I blame dad." Lex commented before he stood up and began walking. "Either way, let's at least try and keep up appearances that we are a loving family and get through the evening."

Lena followed after brother. As they walked they heard the sound of their mother entering the kitchen, probably in search of a bottle.

"Do you know if our mother will grace the event with her presence?" Lena asked.

"Sure if alcohol graces the event with its presence." Lex commented.

"Perhaps you need a bottle to store all that venom." Lena commented.

She wasn't as cynical as her brother, she shared some of his sentiments but she didn't share his cynical view on the world which was no doubt a direct result of their Mother's alcoholism and their father's general unloving nature. But at least as she grew up, she had Lex so she didn't turn out as angry as he did.

Who knows, maybe when he did Inherit the company he would become happier, but who knows when that would be?

~00000~

It was now mid-afternoon and the benefit was in full swing and many of the guests had arrived, from wealthy business men and woman to charities to company representatives and to scientist organisations like S.T.A.R Labs.

There were quite a few people around, as expected from an event like this but Bruce didn't expect to see the type of people that he did see. To his surprise there were quite a few people in their early, mid and late twenties much like him. Over with S.T.A.R Labs there were a few young scientists. There were some young reporters and journalists from the Daily Planet and Chanel 52 respectively. There were other such young people like Lex Luthor and his younger sister as well as other children of rich and influential people. On top of that, attending the event was the beautiful girl he had met while in Nanda Parbat, Talia Al Ghul, and she was here with her father. It didn't look like there were any other Shadows so maybe Ra's and Talia were on their own.

He assumed that the great one, had business with Lionel Luthor. How the two were connected he didn't know. But that wasn't something he would be eager to find out.

Despite his earlier reservations, he was playing his social card and interacting, mostly with those around his age. He may find no purpose in it but he knew that Alfred was right in maintaining appearances and pretending to be a socialite. Lucky Bruce knew how to act the part. His time traveling really taught him how to act when he didn't want to.

"You don't look like you are enjoying yourself." Bruce commented to the one reporter who looked around his age if not older.

"Aren't you the master detective?" She responded.

Bruce chuckled. He had done some training in deduction and would say he was pretty good at it but he wouldn't call himself a detective.

"No, just making conversation. If it's any consolation, I am also bored out of my mind here." Bruce commented.

"You hide it well." The reporter commented. "Lois Lane, Daily Planet."

"Bruce Wayne." Bruce responded.

Lois raised an eyebrow. "Bruce Wayne? Young Billionaire and owner of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne?"

"Yes." Bruce answered simply.

"I had heard that you came back from oversees. I didn't expect to see you here however." Lois said finding some interest in the famed billionaire. She pointed her pen at him as if it were a microphone. "Any word to the press about where you were for the last 10 years."

"I was being trained by ninjas in the Middle East." Bruce said with a shrug to which Lois laughed.

"Good looking and a sense of humour. I like that about you already. But no real scoop?" Lois asked.

"Nothing that hasn't already been reported on." Bruce said… well besides the training by ninjas in the Middle East and Asia… and Africa and South America… there were a lot of ninjas and secret organizations in the world, but he wasn't about to tell anyone that, even when he didn't know what he would do with such training.

"Boo." Lois muttered.

"There you are Miss Lane…" A glare from Lois caused the red haired boy to stop, "uh Lois. New friend?"

"Bruce Wayne pleased to meet you." Bruce said.

"Uh hi I'm Jimmy Olsen." Jimmy stuttered before he grabbed his camera. "Is Lois interviewing you? Can I snap a picture?"

"No, this isn't an interview. We are just both bored and chatting." Lois answered.

"Chin up Lois, we might find something interesting before too long." Jimmy said optimistically.

Jimmy didn't realise how right he was as, without warning a section of the right wall exploded as a man came charging in. The man wore Black and Red bulky body armour and a black helmet with glowing red visor that looked like claw scratches. Around his body was a red aura of crackling energy. It faded quickly.

"What is up everybody?" He announced, his voice distorted, probably in an attempt to mask his identity. As he spoke more armed mercenaries, carrying very advanced looking weapons, entered through the hole and all the entrances. "I would like to introduce myself. My name is Siege Engine. A mouthful I know but most of my friends just call me Siege, if that helps. Now I don't want anyone to freak out. That will only make things a lot harder than this needs to be. All I ask is that you comply with our needs and no one will be hurt." This was a lie of course but the people inside didn't need to know that.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Lionel Luthor called up as he stormed up a few of his security force. "How dare you waltz into my building and make demands."

Siege lifted his hand as a signal to tell his boys to not do anything. He let Lionel Luther walk up to him with his security force in tow. They all had guns pointed at him as Luthor stepped closer, his features defined by his anger.

"Ahh so you must be man of the hour. It's a pleasure to meet you. Truly." Siege said. "So how about you tell your boys to put down their toys and I won't have to do this the fun way. Or you could chose to let me have fun. The choice is yours."

Lionel gave the order and one of his security force members shot his gun. Siege's red aura returned to his body and the bullet was stopped in an instant.

"I am really happy you made that choice." Siege grinned beneath his mask before he punched Lionel Luthor and the elder man was sent flying. Both impacts sounded painful, the sound of the hit and the sound of his body hitting the ground over 300 metres away. There was no doubt Lionel Luthor was dead.

Before anyone could react more shots were fired, shots specifically fired to incapacitate. Most of the security force was taken down alongside a few valuable targets like Vandal Savage and Ra's al Ghul.

"So let's begin again. Don't panic, it makes this harder than it needs to be. As you have seen, me and my boys are very competent. So let's skip the pleasantries shall we? Let's start with what we want and what you can do to help us." Siege said.

~00000~

Great part about a morning and afternoon drive was that it really allowed the Tennyson family to enjoy what the city had to offer.

Through their trip they discovered a nice small little café which also catered to Babies, that plus the food tasting good made it a definite starred location which Ben would remember. While driving around, Ben also discovered good places for hanging out, both for adults and little kids which could be useful for Kara and Conner and useful for Ben when he wanted to get back into the dating scene.

Overall, Ben was having a good time, which abruptly came to an end when he turned on the radio and heard the breaking news.

"This just in, a Mercenary group using high tech weaponry have launched an attack on Lionel Luthor's Benefit at the Luthor Corp Hall. Authorities are unable to respond due to all the hostages present and the presence of the group's advanced weapons." The Radio Anchor spoke.

Ben paled at that thought. The S.T.A.R Labs scientists and other innocent people were there.

"Omni. Watch the kids. Take them back to the house." Ben ordered without a second thought.

"Of course. But Ben I need you to exercise caution. The Omnitrix update is not yet complete. The Omnitrix could time out at the most inopportune moment." Omni responded as he took over the car.

"Kara. I will be back later. Omni will take you home." Ben said.

Kara didn't understand the sudden intensity but she nodded in acceptance.

With a flash of Green, Ben was replaced with Big Chill, and he phased through the car and flew into the sky before he changed to Jet Ray and shot off towards Luthor Corp.

~00000~

Things had started to become real tense inside the Luthor Corp Hall. Siege and his men had started setting bombs in the room all of which could go off at any point in time. Some of them had their weapons trained on the people in the room while others robbed the place blind. Some of the Mercenaries were forcing the more rich to transfer large quantities of money into their account.

Cat Grant was watching this while trying to keep her cool. She was a reporter so she should be ready for dangerous situations. That wasn't true, no amount of psyching yourself out could prepare you for something like this. However Cat was at least in a relatively calm state unlike some of the others in the room. She had ordered that her camera man don't stop recording no matter what and the man agreed.

Now she was just waiting. All around her the other young attendees of the party sat and watched. For some unknown reason, the mercenaries had separated the young guests, 29 and younger from the, older guests. Maybe it was a power play or something but it was their current scenario. Cat took notice that the journalist and her photographer seemed relatively fearless. As did the young billionaire, Bruce Wayne, who was watching over the Arabic young woman who had been shot alongside her father. She was greatly disorientated but Bruce was helping her and speaking Arabic? That was a surprise. There was another girl, she was young, like 10 years old, and she had been next to the man with the three scratches on his face. She looked absolutely pissed off. She kept on glaring at Siege as if she knew him personally. There were also a few young members of S.T.A.R Labs, based on their clothes, some from Metropolis and the others from Central City, one Caitlin Snow, Crystal Frost, Cisco Ramone, Hartley Hathaway and Ronnie Raymond. The Metropolis scientists were the calmest out of the scientists whereas the Central City scientists showed more fear. And finally there was Lex Luthor and his Sister Lena. Lena was on the more calm side of the spectrum, however she was in shock, likely due to the sudden death of her father, whereas Lex, he was afraid. Fear gripped his heart and it showed.

Cat had encountered the young genius a few times before today and he was never not composed. But the Lex she saw now, he was afraid, genuinely afraid. Cat only wondered what would happen as a result of awakening to such a level of fear.

But that wasn't important now. Cat put her focus back on the mercenaries that moved around. The situation still seemed pretty hopeless, but she hoped something would change soon.

As if on cue, the universe granted her request as the glass ceiling broke and a red blur flew down and landed in a flash of green light. All the attention was drawn towards the flash of light.

"Something seems to be happening." Cat whispered into her microphone.

Since she was technically still live, that was the signal to the channel to switch back to her video feed allowing the whole city, or at least those watching Chanel 52 to see what was happening.

The green light faded to see a yellow like creature with multiple eyes on its body and a strange green and black hourglass symbol. It took a moment for the eyes to move around and scan the environment.

"Eye See you." It said before slamming the hourglass symbol on its waist. Another flash of light enveloped it turning it into a velociraptor type being with wheels for feet. "XLR8!" the creature yelled before it became a literal blur.

Before anyone could react all the mercenaries which were keeping watch of the hostages were taken down and disarmed. The Velociraptor then stopped in front of Cat and the others.

"Everyone okay here?" we asked.

"We're fine B… XLR8." Caitlin Snow was the first to respond.

"Good. I'm not sure how many people are here so just stay still for now." XLR8 spoke before it slapped the hourglass symbol again and turned into a new creature.

This one looked like a gorilla with silver fur and blue eyes, at least its torso looked like that. Its arms and legs were bubbles and blue vein like energy similarly to its eye colour. The hourglass symbol plate rested comfortably on his right arm.

"Bubble Wrap." Bubble Wrap called out before he snapped his fingers which encased all the hostages in see through bubbles.

"You'll all remain safe as long as you stay in here." Bubble Wrap said before he slammed down the logo again changing him into a red four armed creature with four yellow eyes.

"Four Arms." He called out.

"What the hell are you?" Siege's voice called out. "And why are you ruining my fun."

"The name's Four Arms pal. At least that's what this form is called." Four Arms said as he cracked his knuckles. "I assume you are the leader of these guys."

"Yeah I am. And you made a mistake coming here freak. Now I get to have some real fun." Siege said before his body glowed with his red aura and he charged towards Four Arms.

The alien hero in question didn't move, he only grinned, it had been a while since he got to fight a supervillain and with everyone safe and sound in his bubbles he didn't need to worry about anyone getting hurt, except for the guy in a stupid costume and the rest of his mercenaries.

As Siege got close, Four Arms swung his arms back and delivered a powerful pair of right hooks. With a satisfying crack, Siege was sent flying back.

"Holy Shit." Siege said as he stood back up and stared at Four Arms. No one, besides his dad obviously, had ever survived his attacks. He was basically a walking tank, hence the name Siege Engine. Now not only was there someone withstanding his force but he was also strong enough to punch back? That excited him.

Four Arms only smirked and gave the universal sign one understood by all cultures. With a flick of his fingers on his hands, the message was delivered. Come at me bro.

"Oh this is going to be fun." Siege said as his aura returned brighter than before.

This time Four Arms didn't stand still. He ran to meet his new challenge and as he did so he slapped his hand against the Omnitrix causing the familiar flash of green light to envelop him.

From the glowing light a large yellow sphere shot out and collided with Siege.

"Cannonbolt!" Cannonbolt called out before he rolled towards the red and black themed mercenary again. Siege was more prepared this time and with a flaring of his aura he knocked Cannonbolt up into the air.

Cannonbolt wasn't worried about the sudden flight trip however. As he decided to slap the Omnitrix again changing his form once again.

"Big Chill." Big Chill called out. "I think you need to cool down and think about what you did."

With his bad pun made, Big Chill let out a stream of ice which caused Siege to be frozen solid.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Big Chill commented before a blast hit him in the back. "Rude!"

Big chill turned and noted that the remaining mercenaries had shown up and had their weapons pointed at him.

"Thanks. You saved me the effort of finding you." Big Chill said.

The mercenaries began to fire but Big Chill responded by going intangible.

Big Chill floated upward before he started spinning in the air and slapped the Omnitrix dial again.

"Spidermonkey!" Spidermonkey called out as he fired webs as he spun. Before gravity pulled him back to the ground the Mercenaries were all webbed to the walls. "Spidermonkey 30. Bad Guys Zero."

If Cat's jaw could drop any further it would have by now. This shapeshifting creature just beat all the mercenaries by himself, and he did so quickly with barely a moment to spare. She was so surprised that she believed she would never be surprised by anything again. That thought was proved false a moment later when a sudden beeping brought all the attention to the creature. Its hourglass plate was glowing red and it looked surprised by this.

"Wait don't!" it called out but it was too late and the creature was surrounded by a flash of red light.

In its place was a young man aged twenty-four. He had brown hair which was connected to his brown short and boxed beard and he had green eyes. He wore a white and black shirt with the same hourglass logo on his shirt and a green jacket that had the same logo but on the back of the jacket. The guy really liked that logo. He also wore blue pants and green sneakers. On his left arm was a watch that also shared the same logo that his clothes had. He was somewhat muscular but that didn't matter because he looked just like a normal human.

"Omnitrix shut down and restarted. Applying Software update." A voice spoke from his watch.

"For real!" He groaned as he glared at his watch. "Omni what was that about? I wanted to have a secret identity this time around."

'**This time around? That was an odd thing to say.'** Cat found herself thinking as she watched the man complain to his watch.

However she decided to shove the thoughts aside and push forward through the protective bubble, which was surprisingly easy, and go forward with the intention of getting an interview. Her camera guy followed obviously.

"Oh no I won't be outdone." Lois muttered and followed after. "Come on Jimmy."

"Yes Lois." Jimmy quickly got up and scrambled after her.

A little hologram appeared above the face plate of the watch. A little man covered head to toe in a green and black body suit.

"I warned you Ben. I told you that the software update would cause the Omnitrix to work on limited time and energy." The hologram, now dubbed Omni, retorted.

"How about a warning before it's about to go off?" The man dubbed Ben said. "I could have left easily with my secret identity still in toe."

"You've never been worried about a secret identity before." Omni noted.

"I was. Also different circumstances." Ben said dryly.

"Excuse me, Cat Grant, Channel 52. Could I ask a few questions?" Cat immediately asked.

"Lois Lane, Daily Planet, can I conduct an Interview for tomorrow's paper." Lois asked.

"I… wait what?" Ben said noticing the two and their respective camera guys behind the two.

"Who are you?" Cat asked.

"How did you do that?" Lois asked.

Ben groaned and back to Omni.

"See what you did. No secret ID for me." Ben commented before he shut off the hologram. "Uh hi, you can call me…" Ben hesitated for a moment as he thought of what to say… then he remembered all his interactions with the alternate future versions of himself and he recalled the name all three of them shared. "I'm Ben. Ben 10 000, just your local Superhero. As for how I did that…" No sense in hiding the truth now. Ben lifted his arm and pointed at the Omnitrix, "Not going to explain everything. But it's because of the Omnitrix, that I was able to do that."

Ben then turned to everyone who was exiting their respective safety bubble and was staring at him.

"I know I asked this already but is everyone okay?" Ben asked. "No injuries or anything like that?"

It was Lena Luthor who spoke up first.

"Yes. Few guests were attacked and even then they were only knocked down." Lena answered. "One fatality, my father Lionel Luthor."

Ben hesitated. Disappointment crossed his face, he wasn't able to save everyone.

"Damnit." He muttered to himself before he looked up at Lena. "I'm sorry I didn't get here soon enough."

"It's alright. Not everyone can be saved." Lena said. Although she wasn't fond of her father, it was still sad that a person died the way he did.

Ben turned to Caitlin and Crystal. "Doctors Snow and Frost. As far as I know you two are the only ones with medical training. Can you help me check on everyone who was attacked to see how they are doing?" Ben asked.

"Sure Ben." Caitlin said.

"Yeah we can help." Crystal added.

"Also can someone call the police and ask them to come in. I kind of forgot my phone so I can't call them." Ben commented.

Lena offered to the do the job and Ben offered his thanks. Cat and Lois still wanted to ask Ben questions but they decided against it, thinking now might not be the best time. Both Bruce and Lex stared at the young man who had entered and saved everyone. Bruce felt awe at his actions but he also felt wary. This Ben 10 000 was almost too good to be true. Lex felt, a lot of things, he felt fear, still rattled at everything that had happened, anger over feeling so afraid and weak, envy over the new comer who had entered and resolved the problem and greed. He wanted that device on his wrist. He wanted to never feel powerless again.

Ben went over to the body of Lionel Luther. He pulled down one of the drapes and used it to cover the body. With that settled he went to check on all the injured victims.

Eyes were on him as he worked. Everyone's eyes as most still couldn't believe what had just happened.

Some could believe what they had seen but were still impressed at the display and others couldn't help but let their curiosity blossom.

One Eobard Thawne, currently disguised as Harrison Wells, Director of S.T.A.R Labs watched Ben curiously. He had known about this hero in the future that he came from but he never got to interact with him a lot. Seeing his first public hero exploits in person was certainly an experience.

As Ben and Caitlin helped Ra's al Ghul and his daughter, the Demon's head regarded this boy with powers he had not seen in his long life. He knew for a fact that this was the beginning of something new and something which would be of great influence in the world to come.

As Ben and Crystal helped the man known in this period of time as Vandal Savage, the first Meta-human watched with intrigue. Since he had met and gain the respect of Darkseid many generations ago, he had grown accustomed the idea of aliens existing and of their various powers. But this Ben 10 000 and his power, was something else. Something that might help bring Savage's goals into the Light.

* * *

**CyberActors15: Oh my god I actually did it.**

**Robin: I have no words.**

**Gwen: That was a long chapter. **

**CyberActors15: Yeah it was. And it had so many perspectives and perspective shifts.**

**Robin: Ra's al Ghul, Vandal Savage, Eobard Thawne, Lex Luthor, Lena Luthor, Talia al Ghul and was that Cassandra Savage?**

**CyberActors15: Maybe. Speaking of Savage. If it isn't Obvious, Julius Savage, AKA Siege is an OC made by me. As far as I am aware Vandal Savage has not important sons except Nabu. Also yes I added a new alien to the Omnitrix. It's only natural, that I would. Also yes readers I know these characters have different personalities to the ones you are used to. Since this before the beginning of Bruce's career I can mess with his personality to allow him to grow into the Batman we know. Same with Lex, Lois and other such younger versions of characters. Also I just want to be clear about this. Bruce is not Batman yet. He isn't even a vigilante yet. Right now he is still Bruce Wayne.**

**Gwen: I see Ben has officially taken the mantle of Ben Ten Thousand. But now it has me wondering what role Kevin and I will play in this story since you allowed us to travel to this earth with Ben.**

**CyberActors15: You are going to have to wait and see.**

**Robin: Now I am on the edge of my seat. What will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite, Follow and stay whelmed to find out.**

* * *

April 20 2008

Well it had finally happened. Lionel Luthor was dead and in accordance with his will, Lex had been made into the CEO of Luthor Corp. Lex should be celebrating. His deadbeat dad was no longer a pain in his side and he was free to change Luthor Corp as he saw fit, including the name.

But right not celebration was the last thing he tasted. No what he tasted was the burning sensation of a strong whiskey that slid down his throat. He was nothing like his mother, no he wasn't that sorrowful, but taste of whiskey did provide some relief. In front of him the Newspaper written by that reporter, Lois Lane. 'Ben 10 000, the shapeshifting hero!' was what the title read.

Lex had no doubt, this Ben 10 000 was a hero, one who had saved the life of him, his sister and several others yesterday. But despite all that, Lex just couldn't find it in him to like the guy. Not because he failed to save his father. No. Because he showed no fear in the face of a dangerous enemy and he had the power to do it himself. He didn't understand how this Omnitrix worked but he decided he would figure out before too long.

"You have my condolences. What happened to your father, it was tragic."

"I'm not drinking because my father is dead. Good riddance really." Lex said.

Vandal savage stood up from his chair and walked over to Lex.

"So it's our new friend that has caught your interest." Savage said as he picked up the newspaper. "If I am being honest I am too. I wonder what things will come to light with his inclusion in this world."

"What is it that you want?" Lex snapped.

"Calm down Lex. I just want to talk." Savage said. "But I can see that you aren't ready for a chat."

Savage handed Lex a card. "If you need someone to talk to. Call this number. I'm sure we will have much we can agree on." Savage said before he walked back into the shadows from whence he came.

Lex continued to drink his whiskey this time as he looked at the card left by Vandal Savage.

* * *

**CyberActors15: Boom.**

**Robin: Well I… I can't.**

**Gwen: I wasn't expecting that so soon.**

**Robin: Someone get me a mother ***king table to flip.**

**Gwen: Language.**


End file.
